The Ministry.
The Ministry.
Ephesians 4:11-12 .
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:"
1) Apostles .
2) Prophets .
3) Evangelists .
4) Pastors .
5) Teachers .
The first thing you may notice is the complete absence of a ministry of "priests" from this list.
As I have the ministry of an Evangelist, and a teacher, I will explain here these two ministries in depth.
3) Evangelists .
The reason the ministry of an evangelist is mentioned above pastors, is that it is much more involved at ministry level than it at first appears. A person who has the ministry of an Evangelist is different from an individual "out witnessing for Jesus". One of the ways you can distinguish a person with the ministry of an Evangelist from a "person just out witnessing" is their level of perception about their responsibilities - if they want to claim the "ministry of an Evangelist". Some are merely babes in Christ out witnessing the Faith, with wads of leaflets in hand. I do not believe in female Evangelists, any more than I believe in the ministry of female apostles or pastors.
Responsibilities:
1) To preach the correct "Gospel by which we are saved" .
1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Luke 24:44-48
without salvation by works, or acts of priestcraft.
2) To defend the Faith:
As the core centre of our faith is the gospel, an Evangelist by performing a full spectrum defence of "the gospel by which we are saved" in effect becomes a defender of the Faith.
"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Jude 1:3-4
If someone is preaching and defending the core centre salvation good news, or common salvation, the attacks on it are so many and so various, in order to adequately defend it he becomes in effect a "defender of the Faith". In this famous examination of this topic in the Epistle of Jude, Jude begins by defending the Faith against what theologists now call "the Antinomian heresy". This heresy of antinomianism is an End Time prophecy, as well as a warning throughout the ages.
3) To stand against "the works of the flesh".
It is easy to defile the gospel by which we are saved, and to turn it into a message of lasciviousness, and render the Faith into a sect or cult, by simply justifying any of the long list of "the works of the flesh", detailed in Matthew 15:15-20, Mark 7:20-23, Galatians 1:6-9, Ephesians 5:3-6. Revelation 21:8. 1 Cor 6:9-11, etc.
Two of the great defiling heresies that defile almost all churches, Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and the various cults and sects out there, are adultery (by unbiblical second marriage) and bloodshed by either war, abortion or capital punishment, outlawed in the new and better covenant. Orthodoxy does both of these heresies.
4) To stand against heresy.
When the Anglican Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins, denied the resurrection and the virgin birth in public in England, not long afterwards ball lightning descended from the sky and burnt down the place in which he was so called consecrated. Wendy Craig, a famous Evangelical Christian actress, on the other hand, went on TV and said "well I do believe in the resurrection and virgin birth", an example of one of the sheep knowing more than those who claim to be shepherds. A true Evangelist will make a stand to defend the fundamentals of the Faith, and in so doing of course must know the fundamentals, and as the resurrection is actually part of our salvation in Christ, it is among a long list of beliefs, including the Trinity, that must be defended. For instance you are simply not preaching the gospel if you believe in the heresy of Sabelianism, a caustic heresy that in effect denies the very existence of the person Christ or the Holy Ghost.
5) To stand against unholiness .
There is a heresy I would term "Protestant Ecumenicalism" that has caused me more trouble in terms of fellowshipping with my fellow Evangelical brothers and sisters than any other. The subject is linked to disciplining. Some Protestants will go out witnessing on the streets with multiple other churches, as if they are all one big happy family, and all saved, just because they superficially preach "the same gospel". However is a church really preaching the gospel at all, or is it in reality a cult or sect. if it adds to the gospel heresy, or the justification of one or several "works of the flesh"?
You get situations were one preacher steps up after another to speak or preach, either on the streets or in some large meetings or conventions, who is married to his third wife, whose first son is in bomber command in the army, and whose second son is a so called "gay Christian", and who preaches out of the NIV.
I can tell you from experience, the scripture "Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." is entirely true in these situations, you can be viciously victimised, slandered and "made a prey" if you stand against such rank unholiness. You will be labelled a division causer, but the cause of the division is these very people defiling the faith with unholiness and ultra lax disciplining.
Proverbs 6:16-19
"These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."
"You have tried them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars."
The plot is that false pastors make their victims feel more at ease in their sect by openly fraternising and fellowshipping with superior churches (usually so they can suck them dry of donations like vampires), and so you will always see big meetings or outreaches organised in this way, and Satan is doubly happy as the said superior churches are in the same process inveigled into unholiness. One of the motivations among underlings in these churches is to promote this unholy defilement of the churches out of jealousy toward teachers still preaching the purity such church sycophants will not ascend into, and such men often are more interested in the women in the churches than they are in the Holy Spirit or Faith in the churches. This makes them quote "utterly carnal".
this page is under construction.....